CVE-2026-42791

3.7 LOW
Published: May 27, 2026 Modified: June 02, 2026
View on NVD

Description

Improper Certificate Validation vulnerability in Erlang OTP public_key (pubkey_ocsp module) allows forged OCSP responses signed with an expired responder certificate to be accepted as valid. OCSP response verification in pubkey_ocsp:verify_response/5 and pubkey_ocsp:is_authorized_responder/3 in lib/public_key/src/pubkey_ocsp.erl does not check the validity period (notBefore/notAfter) of the OCSP responder certificate. An attacker who has obtained the private key of an expired CA-designated OCSP responder certificate can forge OCSP responses that Erlang/OTP accepts as valid. This affects TLS clients using OCSP stapling via the ssl application: a malicious or compromised server can present a revoked TLS certificate together with a forged OCSP response signed by an expired responder key, and the client will accept the revoked certificate as valid. It also affects applications calling public_key:pkix_ocsp_validate/5 directly, where the impact depends on the use case — server-side client certificate validation using this API may allow authentication bypass with a revoked client certificate. This issue affects OTP from OTP 27.0 before OTP 27.3.4.12, 28.5.0.1, and 29.0.1 corresponding to public_key from 1.16 before 1.17.1.3, 1.20.3.1, and 1.21.1.

AI Explanation

Get an AI-powered plain-language explanation of this vulnerability and remediation steps.

Login to generate AI explanation

CVSS v3.x Details

0.0 Low Medium High Critical 10.0
Vector String
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Patch Vendor Advisory Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-42791.html
Source: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-cjxj-wj6x-3fff
Source: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
Mitigation Vendor Advisory
https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-42791
Source: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
Third Party Advisory
https://www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html#order-of-versions
Source: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
Product

6 reference(s) from NVD

Quick Stats

CVSS v3 Score
3.7 / 10.0
EPSS (Exploit Probability)
0.1%
17th percentile
Exploitation Status
Not in CISA KEV

Weaknesses (CWE)

Affected Vendors

erlang